<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Mother Knows Best by RoboticNebula</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25594246">Mother Knows Best</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoboticNebula/pseuds/RoboticNebula'>RoboticNebula</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Temeraire - Naomi Novik</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff and Humor, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mother-Son Relationship, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:28:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,748</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25594246</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoboticNebula/pseuds/RoboticNebula</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>At this rate, her son and Lord Tharkay will keep dancing around each other for the rest of their lives. Lady Allendale decides it’s time to do something about it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>William Laurence &amp; Lady Allendale, William Laurence/Tenzing Tharkay</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>78</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Temeraire Summer Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Mother Knows Best</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/lychee_jelly/gifts">lychee_jelly</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is for lychee_jelly for the Temeraire Gift Exchange! I saw you mentioned outsider POV in your prompts and I have been wanting to write from Lady Allendale’s POV for a long time now so I jumped at the chance. I hope you like it!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lord Tharkay’s first summer ball was a roaring success. Lady Allendale had been to numerous balls in her life so she knew something of the matter and she could confidently say that this one surpassed them all.</p>
<p>The large ballroom had no problem accommodating all the guests, ranging from neighbouring nobles, to aviators and even the villagers under Lord Tharkay’s management. The dinner tables placed around the room offered plenty of seats to rest and for a cup of tea and the white marble floor reflected the golden candlelight and the colourful dresses of the ladies twirling about the room.</p>
<p>Wide double doors opened up to the garden where most dragons were clustered in lively discussions. A quintet was performing on the terrace, surrounded by white paper lanterns which Temeraire had re-created from his trip to China. The evening was warm, the sun having set a long time ago and left behind a cool breeze that made the atmosphere airy and comfortable.</p>
<p>She wasn’t much of a dancer anymore, so she had spent most of the time in quiet conversation at the tables, admiring her surroundings and following her son’s progress about the room. The whole evening had been nothing short of delightful, and yet she found herself restless. Everything was going splendidly, the guests were all impressed and her son really was quite good at navigating a party. Lady Allendale was proud, truly. She only wished he wasn’t using his talents to shield Lord Tharkay from her.</p>
<p>Lady Allendale was chagrined by this, she had been hoping to catch Lord Tharkay for a few words in private. She wanted to know more about this mysterious man. She knew he had travelled with her son for several years, but the stories Temeraire had told her had done nothing to clear her confusion. Something about bunyips? A red coat? A crevasse? She needed to know more about this man who had invited Laurence to live with him, the one with whom Laurence <em>had</em> been living with for the past year. She needed… well.</p>
<p>If all went according to plan, Lord Tharkay would be her son’s <em>particular</em> friend in the near future and she wanted to make sure he was the right man for him.</p>
<p>This was mostly Jane Roland’s fault. Last summer, she had come over for a visit to discuss enrolling more women in the corps over tea when the conversation had strayed to Laurence and his new living arrangements. In her usual, blunt, manner, Jane Roland had expressed her satisfaction.</p>
<p>“Those two have been wrapped around each other from the beginning, it was only a matter of time, really,” she had said, laughing.</p>
<p>The remark had gotten Lady Allendale thinking. She had heard stories of relationships between men in the navy, and she wasn’t blind. She knew some of Jane Roland’s fellow female aviators shared bonds that went well beyond friendship and like many things since aviators had entered her life, this had quickly become normal. She wondered why the thought of such relationships hadn’t crossed her mind before.</p>
<p>Her Laurence had never shown any interest in women after Edith Galman, but he seemed comfortable with Lord Tharkay in a way he wasn’t with anyone other than Temeraire. Thus, she had decided she would make the utmost effort to <em>nudge</em> her son in the right direction. This was for his happiness after all.</p>
<p>Lady Allendale had discreetly tried making more detailed enquiries about Lord Tharkay in their correspondence, but her son’s answers had either been surprisingly vague or had detailed miscellaneous anecdotes involving falcons and their competitiveness with dragons.</p>
<p>She had tried inviting both men to her London house in winter, only for her invitation to be gently, but firmly turned down.</p>
<p>She had hoped this party would finally be the occasion to get to know Lord Tharkay, but Laurence had promptly led him away after their introductions. She had spent the rest of her evening trying to get him to leave Lord Tharkay’s general vicinity by sending various ladies his way for a dance, but to no avail. Laurence had successfully turned each of them away, guided each to another dance partner and, after the fifth one had even asked her to kindly redirect any future interested party away from him.</p>
<p>So she hadn’t succeeded in talking to Lord Tharkay. Watching him interact with her son throughout the evening, however, only made her more determined. She had never seen Laurence more at ease then when they leaned towards each other in quiet conversation, she noticed the soft touches on his hands and arms that he accepted without a flinch and above all she saw how he would look over at Lord Tharkay with a warm smile.</p>
<p>She needed both boys to fess up. She knew her son enough to know he would not act without an outward sign of interest. The shared residence had been a good first step, but she needed Lord Tharkay to do more, which he wouldn’t do without her nudging him in the right direction. She didn’t usually like getting involved in the affairs of others, but she would admit there was certain… thrill to it. Jane Roland’s influence, again, no doubt.</p>
<p>So far, she was being outplayed by her own flesh and blood, but she was an old hand at this and thankfully, she now had an ally. Right on time, Temeraire poked his head in through the large windows and urgently called Laurence over to his side, saying something about <em>Iskierka</em> and <em>fireworks</em>. Laurence bowed away from his current conversation with Lord Tharkay and speedily walked out.</p>
<p>Before Lord Tharkay could follow, Lady Allendale neatly stepped in his place. With a welcoming smile, she took his elbow and gently started guiding him to one of the alcoves, conveniently choosing one hidden behind a column, out of immediate sight. If Lord Tharkay was surprised, he hid it very well, merely raising an eyebrow at her and following her lead easily.</p>
<p>“Lady Allendale, this is a surprise,” he said, perfectly polite.</p>
<p>“I wanted to congratulate you for this delightful party, Lord Tharkay,” she replied.</p>
<p>He huffed a short laugh, tilting his head at her conspiratorially.</p>
<p>“I think we both know Temeraire and your son should be given the credit.”</p>
<p>The touch of humour in his voice was a pleasant surprise, but she wasn’t fooled. He was the spitting image of a respectable young man, face smooth with composure, and yet there was something guarded about him. At the alcove, he helped her sit down without creasing the folds of her dress and seemed to hesitate before sitting down himself, apparently realising there was no escape from this conversation.</p>
<p>“How is living with my son?” asked Lady Allendale.</p>
<p>“He is a perfect gentleman,” he said, as if it were not a given.</p>
<p>“Are the two of you close?” she tried again.</p>
<p>“Yes, we have travelled a lot together so I know him very well.”</p>
<p>Lord Tharkay was not biting the bait she was throwing and Lady Allendale was quickly running out of pleasantries. It was at once endearing and irritating that he was just as evasive as her son in his answers.</p>
<p>“He was rather nervous at your coming here tonight,” he said, suddenly, “You are very dear to him and he would hate to disappoint you.”</p>
<p>The comment gave her pause. She had anticipated her son’s protectiveness, but only now realised that it was reciprocated. Lord Tharkay was looking straight at her, a glint of challenge in his eyes and face serious. Contradictorily, it eased something in her and she sighed softly in relief. This was the first real glimpse of him he had given her and it was the opening she had been waiting for. She folded her hands in her lap, and rewarded him with some bluntness of her own.</p>
<p>“He should know better, he could never disappoint me,” she said and pushed one step further, “I merely want to get to know his… <em>friend</em> better.”</p>
<p>Lord Tharkay’s smile was more genuine this time, right on the edge of a laugh, the amusement writ on his face making him look younger. Before she could say anything more, unfortunately, Laurence found them, looking slightly panicked at the sight of them together. She feared it would be the end of her efforts for the night and that she would have to be content with the minuscule progress she had made, but Lord Tharkay surprised her, yet again. He caught one of Laurence’s hands and lifted it up to his lips, kissing the knuckles softly. He kept that hand pressed in his when he looked back at her, eyebrow raised in silent prompting.</p>
<p>Lady Allendale blinked, gaze travelling from those entangled hands to the stunned but distinctly pleased wide-eyes look on Laurence’s face. It dawned on her then.</p>
<p>“It seems I am already too late,” she sighed.</p>
<p>Tharkay stood up with a wide grin, this time exchanging a meaningful look with her son before leaving them alone. Laurence sat down in his place. He was watching her closely, waiting for a reaction but she knew he would not hide from this and patiently waited him out.</p>
<p>“There is something I have been meaning to tell you,” he said, finally.</p>
<p>She could not hold back her smile any longer and she leaned over to pat him on the knee.</p>
<p>“I must admit, it is a relief you took the situation in your own hands,” she told him, too delighted to resist a little teasing, “I was running out of ideas.”</p>
<p>Laurence cleared his throat and pulled at his sleeves, no doubt flustered at the thought of her getting involved. Lady Allendale could understand, really, but Jane Roland had taught her that overcoming embarrassment could go a long way and she had no regrets.</p>
<p>“Mother, I thought you were trying to set me up with a woman,” he said, embarrassed.</p>
<p>“Oh dear.”</p>
<p>It was her turn to be flustered. In hindsight, perhaps she could see how asking about their relationship and sending him dance partners could have been misconstrued. She laughed, embarrassed but Laurence was looking at her with a relieved smile on his face and yes, that pleased look suited him.</p>
<p>“I am happy for you, truly,” she said.</p>
<p>He clasped her hand in his, smile widening even further.</p>
<p>“Thank you, mother,” he whispered, honest and warm.</p>
<p>It had been a truly wonderful party, but this she decided, was the highlight of her evening.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>